Thill-coupling.



No. 893,150. PATENTED JULY14, 190s.

' J. P. DRISCOLL.

THILL COUPLING.

' APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. 1906.

JOHN P. DRISOOLL, OF GREENLAND, MICHIGAN.

THILL-GOUPLIN G.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 14, 1908.

Application filed March 6, 1908. Serial N 0. 419,414.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JOHN P. DRISCOLL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Greenland, in the county of Ontonagon and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thill-Coupl ings,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to thill-couplings, and more particularly to adevice of this kind adapted for sleighs; and the invention has for itsobject to provide such a device which is simple and inexpensive, and bymeans of which the thills can be quickly attached or detached. g

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing theapplication of the invention, only so much of the sleigh being shown aswill suffice to show the connection of the invention therewith. Fig. 2is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring specifically to the drawing, 5 denotes one of the runners of asleigh; 6 is one of the knees at the front end thereof;

and 7 is one of the benches supported by the latter. These parts arearranged in the or-- dinary manner and nothing is claimed with respectthereto.

My improved thill-coupling comprises a rod 8 having at one end a fork,the branches 9 of which extend on opposite sides of the curved or frontend of the runner 5 and are made fast thereto by a transverse bolt 10passing through said parts. The other end of the rod passes through ahole in the bench 7 and behind the same is threaded to receive a nut 11whereby it is securely held in place. In front of the runner, thebranches 9 are enlarged and have alined holes 12 to receive a cross-pin13 to which the thill-iron 14 is connected. This pin is formedintegrally at one end of arod 15 extending beside the fork, and behindthe runner. This rod has an upward and lateral bend 16 to form an offsetportion 17, at the extremity of which is a laterally projecting finger18. When the coupling is in place, the part 16 passes over the forkbehind the runner and the part 17 extends along the rear end of the rod8 with the finger 18 engaging the under side thereof. The rod 15 is madeof spring metal by reason of which the spring-finger will engage the rod8 with sufficient force to tightly hold the coupling in place. Torelease the thills it is necessary onlyto disengage the spring-finger 18after which the pin '13 can be slipped out of the holes 12 and thethill-iron released. The spring finger is curved to fit the rod snuglyand its free end is turned up slightly so that it may be readily takenhold of to release the thills as stated.

The device herein described is simple in construction and can be cheaplyproduced, it securely couples the thills, and it enables them to bereadily applied and removed.

I claim:

1. A thill-coupling for sleighs comprising a rod secured to the frontbench, and having a fork extending on opposite sides of the runner, thebranches of the fork in front of the runner having alined holes,fastening means passing through the fork and the runner, a pin mountedin the holes of the forkbranches, a thill-iron mounted on the pin, andmeans for holding the pin in place.

2. A thill-coupling for sleighs comprising a rod secured to the frontbench, and having a fork extending on opposite sides of the runner, thebranches of the fork in front of the runner having alined holes,fastening means passing through the fork and the run ner, a rod having alaterallypassing through the holes of the forkbranches, and a resilientoffset portion behind the runner engageable with the first mentionedrod, and a thill-iron mounted on the pin.

3. A thill-coupling for sleighs comprising a rod secured to the frontbench, and having a fork extending on opposite sides of the runner, thebranches of the fork in front of the runner having alined holes,fastening means passing through the fork and the runner, a rod having atone end a laterally projecting pin passing through the holes of theforkbranches, a lateral bend at the other end of the rod passing overthe fork behind the runner, and having a spring-arm engageable with thefirst mentioned rod, and a thill-iron mounted on the aforesaid pin.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN P. DRISOOLL. Witnesses:

WALTER E. VAN

